Battle Royale is a fantastic flim, based on a novel. Haven't read the book. But the film has had a sort of "cult" following in the U.S. for quite a long time now. It didn't get an official American release until fairly reacently. Prior to that it was all fansubs and imported DVD's.
The story is good, though truthfully there is not as much story as The Hunger Games. There are a lot of similarities, # of survivors, the killing, the political unrest, the people sent in to stir stuff up (similar to the careers). But that's about it really. The stories, whle similar, are also very different. Especially in terms of design.
Battle Royale is BLOODY. I mean really over the top bloody. And the deaths are a LOT more gruesome overall. There's no training for this, these are jr. high kids straight off their field trip bus. No forewarning. Nothing. Just here you go, you all have to kill each other, only one survivor. If there's more than one person alive at the end of the time limit (3 days) your necklace trackers explode and you all die. HAVE FUN! and then they get a bag with a "weapon" to get rid of any natural advantages. You'll have a fat kid who might be first pickings with a cross bow, meanwhile someone out and ready to kill gets a paper fan. So it's interesting to watch it unfold in that sense. You don't get a lot of that with The Hunger Games. Also 42 students instead of 24, so a lot more killings to get through.
Good movie, not for everybody. Not even everyone who likes The Hunger Games would like it, but I throughally enjoyed it. And truthfully, before I read the Hunger Games books and had just saw the first movie the words out of my mouth were "So...they just ripped off Battle Royale?" Which I realize now is not really true, but the similarites are startling at first glance.
All the blood aside there is a redeeming underlying story, and there are several characters who get fleshed out. There's a lot going on and lot more people in Battle Royale are willing to try to NOT kill each other and instead find another way out. You've got a group of computer hackers, some school girls trying to work things out, a few lovers suicides, the whole deal. As far the the BATTLE part of the story goes it is more fleshed out than The Hunger Games. If you can handle blood and gore and also subtitles (the fillm is in Japanese) then I do recommend it. But note that while similar in some ways it is NOT the Hunger Games and it was deemed inappropriate for teeangers (the intended audience of The Hunger Games) many many times in many different countires.
Good movie. One of my favourites.
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daveapps-464-983170
8 years ago
In other words, two totally different stories. At last, an admission of reality.
Your opinion of their relative merits is your own personal issue, as long as you get past this rip-off delusion.
Perhaps all these debates with yourself have actually helped you to see the light.
Glad to see the healing has begun.
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